Amid ongoing uproar of conduct of examinations in India, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday alleged serious irregularities in the prestigious Group-1 examination conducted under the previous YSRCP government, citing forensic and Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) findings.
Naidu, speaking in the Assembly on Wednesday, claimed that people listed as electricians, plumbers, data-entry operators, drivers and construction workers were among those involved in evaluating Group-1 examination papers.
He questioned how such individuals could have been entrusted with evaluating papers for a Group-1 examination.
Naidu further pointed out that different handwriting was found within a single answer script in some cases, raising suspicion that an unauthorised person may have written answers on behalf of the candidates. He said forensic examination established evidence of such discrepancies.
He said CFSL reports found alterations, overwriting, additions and deletions in the answer scripts of 734 candidates. Of these, 718 candidates, or around 97.82%, had such alterations or corrections, he claimed, questioning the credibility of the examination.
Naidu also pointed out that 21 corrected answer scripts did not carry signatures. He said corrections were required to be authenticated by the examiner or chief examiner, and the absence of signatures indicated that the prescribed procedure had not been followed.
The Chief Minister also alleged irregularities in the evaluation process. He said Part-1 was subjected to digital online evaluation in Hyderabad, where 97 evaluators were engaged, including 25 whom he described as completely unauthorised.
He alleged that the second round of evaluation was conducted at Highland. While authorities claimed it was manual evaluation, Naidu said the process was actually carried out digitally. He said 66 evaluators were engaged in this round, all of whom were unauthorised.
He also flagged the manual evaluation conducted at the AP Public Service Commission (APPSC) office. According to Naidu, 162 evaluators were appointed, including 50 degree lecturers.
He said that normally, evaluation of such high-level competitive examinations is entrusted to professors, Heads of Departments and university academicians. However, he alleged that degree lecturers were appointed instead, with rules being violated throughout the evaluation process.
Naidu described the alleged irregularities as evidence of an "illegal process within an illegal system" and said they raised serious questions over the credibility and fairness of the Group-1 examination conducted under the previous YSRCP government.
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